Related Stories

LONDON, Ont. — At least the Edmonton Oil Kings don’t have to fly in Taylor Hall today to talk to the team.

Only one team has ever come back from an 0-2 start in the modern-day four-team tournament concept of the Memorial Cup.

Only one team won it’s last round robin game, won the tie-breaker game, won the semi-final, won the final and carried the ancient trophy.

That was the 2009 Windsor Spitfires led by Taylor Hall in his first of two Memorial Cup champion and back-to-back MVP years.

With their 5-2 win over host London Knights here Sunday, that’s what faces the host now, not the Oil Kings.

“That game was super important for us because 0-2 is pretty much like not a lot of chance to make it,” said Edgars Kulda, the Latvian who scored two goals including the winner.

“It was a game we knew we needed to win. This team has come up big in big games this year. Going into it, I thought our team was well prepared and we played a great game,” said goaltender Tristan Jarry, who again had a big bounce back game when his team needed it the most.

“It’s huge. That first one is tough to get. You don’t want to go down 0-2,” said Brett Pollock.

Coach Derek Laxdal said the difference between being 1-1 and 2-0 in this tournament is so massive that he didn’t think it required explanation.

“It was a hell of a game for us tonight and we’ll take it and move on,” he said.

You have to understand the way the Memorial Cup works.

If you lose all three round robin games you go home.

Gonzo alonzo. Outta here. History.

Win one and you get at least tie-breaker playoff game. Win two and you make it to the semi-final.

Edmonton plays Val-d’Or Tuesday and Guelph and London complete the round robin schedule Wednesday. Guelph took out London four games to one in their second round OHL playoff series.

A tie-breaker, if necessary, would be held Thursday with the semi-final Friday and the final Sunday.

You don’t want to be a team which won your league championship only to come here and end up taking the skate of shame out of the four team tournament without winning a single game such as the 2010 Moncton Wildcats, 2008 Gatineau Olympiques, 2005 Kelowna Rockets, 2004 Guelph Storm, 2003 Quebec Remparts, and 2000 Kootenay Ice.

But now that’s Dale Hunter’s problem with host London.

Maybe he should call Hall.

Actually, I called him myself anyway.

“They’re all good teams there. They’ve all won four games in a row lots of times. You just play the next game,” said Hall from Kingston.

“With that team we had in Windsor that year we went through the OHL pretty easily to get there. We just couldn’t get any bounces in those first two games and our goaltending wasn’t very good.

“The first step was to win our last round robin game against Kelowna and we squeaked that one out. I remember we were down by two and we had a guy, Dale Mitchell, score three.

“We beat Kelowna again in the final when we scored three goals right off the go in the first period.

“It was pretty crazy. The next year we were down three games to none against Kitchener in the OHL and really used what happened the year before at the Memorial Cup to bring us back and win four straight to win that series and get back to the Memorial Cup again,” said Hall, who was taken first overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the NHL Entry Draft that summer.

“When you have a team good enough to get to the Memorial Cup, there’s always a way out,” said Hall.

Maybe not with London. They were booted out of the playoffs by Guelph in five games and had to wait around 35 days to begin play in this event.

If London loses to Guelph Wednesday, it would mean Edmonton would advance directly to the semi-final Friday.